What’s the Difference between Sadness and Depression?

A while back I discussed the difference
between grief and depression in which I asserted that the symptoms of
depression, while similar to grief, can be differentiated. Garden variety grief
isn’t an illness; it isn’t depression.

Similarly, sadness is not an illness and
is not depression either. When I describe depression—which, of course, contains
profound sadness—people have a hard time individuating it in their minds from
sadness, but they are quite different.

Sadness
is a Normal, Human Emotion

Sadness is something we all experience;
it’s a normal, human emotion. We experience it when we experience something
unpleasant in life—a loss, a disappointment, and so on. Sadness is what
happens when you get a divorce. Sadness is what happens when you’re stood up
for a date. Sadness is what happens when normal events occur in ways that are
hurtful. Sadness can occur at very regular intervals in our everyday lives.

However, sadness is not constant. Sadness
is not an every-moment-of-every-day thing like depression is. Sadness relents,
depression doesn’t. Sadness is interrupted by periods of laughter; depression
often can’t be budged by even the most talented comedian. Sadness may usher in
negative thoughts but it does not propel a person into a place of suicidal
ideation. Sadness may reduce our ability to enjoy life but it doesn’t
destroy it all together. Sadness may last for what feels like a long period of
time, but it does not remain constant for weeks or months. Sadness doesn’t
produce significant weight changes or prolonged periods of sleep changes.
Sadness doesn’t include psychosis.

In short, depression is so far beyond
sadness that comparing the two is almost laughable. Sadness is painful and it
sucks, but it is normal and it does pass. Depression is beyond painful. It’s
life-altering, it is not normal, and often does not resolve itself without medical intervention.

Medicalization
of Normal, Human Emotion

It’s important to understand the difference
between sadness and depression because it clarifies which is an illness and
which is not. It’s important to realize that depression is not a medicalization
of normal, human emotion. Depression is a real
illness. It is very different from sadness. And skilled clinicians can tell
the difference between the two.

People
with Depression are Not Just “Sad”

Just as cell growth is normal in a person,
we call out of control cell growth an illness—we call it cancer. Depression
is exactly the same. Depression is when a normal, human emotion gets out of
control to the point where it is no longer normal. Considering someone with an
illness merely to be “sad” is an insult to that person and minimizes an illness
that takes thousands of lives every year. And we can’t afford to do that, lest
the illness take one more.

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